


You Are Imp(erfect)

by DarkMasterofCupcakes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: As much fluff as you can get with Hordak, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of Horde Prime - Freeform, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25687984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMasterofCupcakes/pseuds/DarkMasterofCupcakes
Summary: Usually, a failed clone would simply be disposed of. This time, however, Hordak finds himself oddly...attached to his latest creation, despite the fact that it is still a failure. Or, the story of Imp's birth and his first interaction with Hordak. Written for the 2020 She-Ra Fluffbang.
Relationships: Hordak & Imp (She-Ra)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	You Are Imp(erfect)

The sound of alarms blaring was not uncommon in the Fright Zone; Hordak could not be bothered to take the time to personally announce every siege and raid that his forces were to be deployed on, and so the alarms were used to communicate his desires. It was the duty of Shadow Weaver to give assignments to the force captains, and the force captains’ duty to relay those assignments to their squadrons. And so, under most circumstances, the sound of an alarm would warrant little more than maybe briefly glancing up from his current project before returning his attention back to the task at hand. 

More often than not, he didn’t even bother with looking away; it was never important enough that it was worth distracting him from his work. 

This time was different. The alarm that rang through his sanctum was not the loud siren that filled the halls and barracks, distracting anyone who was not focused completely on their current task. This was an alarm meant only for Hordak’s ears; it would not be heard outside of his sanctum, for it only concerned him. 

Upon hearing it, he growled in frustration, crushing the pen he’d been holding between his fingers.

He ignored the splattering of ink that now covered the desk he’d been working at, as well as his armor, and got to his feet, barely even bothering to drop the now ruined writing tool on his way to see the source of the alarm. He already knew what it was; it was a sound he’d heard many times over the years he’d spent trying to clone a new body for himself. 

It had gotten to the point where he no longer felt anger upon hearing it, only slight annoyance. This time was different. 

This particular clone had lasted much longer than any of the previous ones – almost a full year, while most barely made it a third of that time – and had managed to reach a greater stage of development as a result. It was still small, roughly the size of the infant orphans he had briefly spotted on the rare occasion he bothered to speak with the soldiers who were tasked to care for the future canon fodder in the infirmary. It was as close to perfect he’d ever been able to get, even if he’d been forced to splice his DNA with the native fauna of this backwater planet to keep the clone stable long enough to accept the fluid that would allow it to continue to grow and develop. 

He had almost thought that it would be possible to pass his consciousness into this new body, just as he had seen Horde Prime do countless times before. But, it seemed as though his efforts had been in vain, as the alarm that continued to ring through his sanctum announced that the clone’s pod was no longer stable, and he would be forced to release it before it was fully grown. 

He doubted it would even survive outside of the fluid it had been developing in, even if it had lasted considerably longer than any of the previous attempts. No matter; he would simply dispose of the failure – as he’d done with all the others – and start again as soon as possible, until he succeeded in cloning a new body for himself. 

He would succeed, of that Hordak was sure. He would succeed in his efforts to clone a new body, as he would succeed in finding a way to open a portal from this world and rejoining Horde Prime and proving his worth once more. 

It would take time, but he would put in a lifetime of effort if it meant proving that he was not a failure; that he was nearly as perfect as could be, second only to Horde Prime himself. 

He approached the incubation chamber for the newest failure, prepared to discard of the incomplete specimen inside. The fluid has already been drained, an automatic process, and the clone sat at the bottom of the chamber, head bowed forward as though it was showing deference to a master. It would have almost been an amusing image, if Hordak was not well aware of what the bowed head actually meant. 

Hordak pressed a button on the console, opening up the chamber in order to provide him access. He reached inside to pick up the small creature slouched inside the chamber, a small puff of breath escaping his lips in surprise when he noticed the small movement from the incomplete clone in his hands; it was the tiniest twitch of the creature’s pointed ear, but that was more than Hordak had been expecting – as he’d genuinely assumed this was yet another complete failure. 

“So, you are still alive?” Hordak asked, his tone betraying a small amount of hope as well as a strong sense of amazement. 

At first, the clone didn’t show any sign of responding, and if it weren’t for the fact that he could now see its small body moving slightly with each intake and outtake of breath, Hordak would have assumed the twitch from before was nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him. Even with that, he still wasn’t fully convinced that the attempt had been a failure…until the little clone titled up its…his head to actually look at Hordak. 

The elder clone locked eyes with his creation, studying the features of the smaller clone. As expected, his features were very similar to Hordak’s own, but with the telltale signs of the Etherian creature that had been spliced into the genome to help stabilize it, so he was not a perfect copy. 

Still, he was alive, and that did elicit a small spark of pride in Hordak, as well as hope that perhaps one day, he could make a perfect clone of himself, one that would be strong enough to once against fight alongside Horde Prime and his brothers. 

The little clone opened his mouth, and for a moment Hordak genuinely wondered if he would speak; he was small and appeared very similar to a very young child, but perhaps the brain had developed more quickly, as was common to happen in clones like them. 

To his disappoint, however, no words came from the creature’s mouth, only a sound which resembled a combination of a squawking noise and something almost akin to the odd cooing sound of a young child. The little one continued to make the odd noise, until finally, he did manage to get a word out: “So”. 

Hordak’s eyes narrowed slightly as he listened to his creation speak that one short word; mostly due to the fact that while the word was coming out of the mouth of the younger clone, the voice speaking was his own. 

“Interesting,” Hordak spoke aloud to himself. Despite the fact that the word was not directed at him, the young clone looked up at his creator with a curious expression upon his face. A moment later, the curious look morphed to one of excitement and once again, Hordak heard his own voice coming from the mouth of the clone in front of him, repeating the word he’d just spoken. 

“Interesting. Interesting,” the smaller clone echoed, the expression on his face not quite matching the tone of what he was saying, though he seemed unaware of this fact. 

Hordak leaned forward, wanting to get a closer look at his creation. Once he got close enough, the newborn suddenly clasped onto his hand, grasping it with both of his own, much smaller hands as he looked up at his creator with the same excited expression, eyes bright as he kept repeating what Hordak had said. 

Hordak’s eyes widened slightly at the touch; it felt…strange, but he felt no desire to pull away. As odd as it was, the feeling was not unpleasant. In fact, it was quite the opposite – there was something almost akin to warmth that seemed to pass through his veins at the small creature grasping his hand and using his voice to speak. He looked down at his creation in silence for a moment, almost as if studying him. 

“You are imp-“ he began to speak, but paused halfway through the word. It was a harsh truth, but true all the same – the newly born clone was imperfect – he was too small, Hordak doubted he’d grow much if at all, and he appeared to be unable to speak in his own voice; yet, there was something that made him hesitate, a strange feeling that made him unwilling to refer to his creation that way, even if it was objectively true. 

“Imp.” 

Hordak looked down at the little one as he spoke once again. He now looked…confused, maybe a little concerned and curious. 

“Yes…Imp,” Hordak responded with just the slightest hesitation. He scooped up the little one in front of him, allowing him to perch on one arm while the other was used to support him from behind. “That is your name.” 

He knew he should not be naming the clone; under most circumstances, clones did not receive names of their own, not unless they had somehow earned them, as Hordak himself had done since being trapped on this backwater planet. 

However, when he looked back down at his creation – at Imp – and saw the little one staring up at him with an expression that was equal parts elation and admiration, a soft trilling noise escaping from his lips, the feeling of warmth once again spread through his body, and he knew the decision was both final…and correct. 

“Your name is Imp, and you will be my greatest asset.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is a day late, but I'd been going through some stuff that made writing difficult. Also, trying to do something even remotely fluffy with Hordak was quite the challenge, but I'd actually wanted to do something like this for a while, since the implied relationship and dynamic between Hordak and Imp has always fascinated me.


End file.
